The skull was later submitted to Dr Caroline Wilkinson, of the University of Dundee, a specialist in forensic anthropology, to create an image of how the girl would have looked.

The facial reconstruction of the woman's skull found in a skip.

Although unable to determine hair or eye colour, her teeth were said to be “goofy.”

Leading the skull investigation back in 2006, Detective Chief Insp Sally Holmes had said: “There is no evidence this is a murder enquiry. The skull has been thoroughly examined and there is nothing to suggest any trauma.

“The university said that whoever the skull belonged to would have been alive in the 1950s, which obviously makes it more imperative that someone comes forward and assists in the investigation.

“It is not impossible that somebody who was alive in the 1950s may remember them.”

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Yet despite national appeals for information, the identity remains a mystery to this day.

Robert Giles, a criminologist from Northern Ireland, has one theory which he passed on to police.

He believed the skull could belong to Birmingham student nurse Maria Aldridge who went missing, aged 17, in 1968 from Birmingham’s Dudley Road Hospital.

Maria aged nine.

Her sister Cathy Phillips made an emotional appeal earlier this month for new information (see video above).

Mr Giles pointed to striking similarities including the skull belonging to a teenage girl who lived in the 1950s and that she had protruding teeth, like Maria. The remains were also found a few miles from where she vanished from.

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But a West Midlands Police spokesman said: “Extensive forensic tests and analysis on the skull have been conducted. The DNA of Maria Aldridge and the skull are both on the national database and there hasn’t been a match reported.

“Our missing person file on Maria remains open and we would welcome any information on her whereabouts.

“We hope she is still alive and, for whatever reason, she simply decided to leave the life she knew and begin afresh elsewhere.

“We remain keen to know she is safe and well, and if she would like to confirm this to us in confidence then she can do.

“Anybody else who knows where Maria is can call the Force Review Team on 101 or the charity Missing People on 116 000.”